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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD/Bluray) 2025
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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD/Bluray) 2026
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Upcoming: UK & Ireland Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2025)
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Upcoming: UK & Ireland Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2026)
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Upcoming: Festivals UK & Europe (2026)
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Upcoming: European, USA & World Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2025)
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Upcoming: European, USA & World Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2026)
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Latest Album Reviews
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Album review : BRAZEN ABBOT – Live And Learn and Guilty As Sin (CD reissues)
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Album review : GRAHAM BONNET – Lost In Hollywood Again (Live)
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JIM PETERIK AND WORLD STAGE – River of Song – The Power Of Duets, Volume 1
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Album review: HENGE – Journey to Voltus B
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Album review : JIMI JAMISON – 1998 Live Hits
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Album review: DEWOLFF – Fuego!
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Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: STEVE OVERLAND AND JIM KIRKPATRICK- The Weir, Brentford, Middlesex, 9 December 2025
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Gig review: JOHN OTWAY – Face Bar, Reading, Thursday 11 December 2025
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Gig review: CURVED AIR – The Sub Rooms, Stroud, 20 November 2025
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Gig review: MARTIN BARRE & FRIENDS – Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, 18 November 2025
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GRTR! Greats
Featured Album Reviews
Features
Interviews
Single & EP Reviews
DVD Reviews
Book Reviews
News
Author Archives: brianmc
Album review: NERGARD – Eternal White
Pride & Joy Music [release date 21.04.21] Norwegian musician/songwriter/producer, Andreas Nergard creates symphonic experiences which enthrall audiences. The fact that he uses “Metal” as his chosen vehicle is almost incidental. You could add that the fact he uses voices is … Continue reading
Album review: SILENT RAGE – Shattered Hearts and Don’t Touch Me There (Remasters)
Rock Candy Records [release date 07.05.21] US rock band, Silent Rage’s worldwide hit song, ‘Don’t Touch Me There’ (1989) gained them considerable notoriety. Perhaps a surprise then that once you peel away the risque lyrics, you reveal a band of … Continue reading
EP review : RHAPSODY OF FIRE – I’ll Be Your Hero
AFM Records [Release date 04.06.21] There’s no band more adept at sucking us into their fantasy world of bombastic, exhuberant Metal than Champions League Melodic Metal band, Rhapsody Of Fire. This is one of those rarities we call an EP. … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Single and EP reviews
Tagged AFM Records, album, EP, melodic metal, power, review, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, symphonic
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Album review: FRANKIE MILLER – Once In A Blue Moon, High Life and The Rock (remasters with bonus tracks)
Rock Candy Records [release date 7.05.21] Glasgow singer/songwriter/actor, Frankie Miller always seemed to have more success when other people sang the stuff he had written. And no matter the critical acclaim his own releases enjoyed, reviews always seemed to end … Continue reading
Album review: GHOSTS OF MEN – Exhale
Regent Street Records [Release date 21.05.21] No psychodrama queens, Ghosts of Men are as comfortable as any rock band can be in writing about mental health. It’s hardly a selling point, but on this their second album, they undercut the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Black Keys, Exhale, Ghosts Of Men, Mental Health, review, White Stripes
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Album review: BLOODBOUND – Creatures Of The Dark Realm
AFM Records [release date: 28.05.21] When Bloodbound’s principal songwriters, Fredrik Bergh and Tomas Olsson rerouted their musical artistry from the AOR of Street Talk to the land of Power Metal, they brought the underlying principles of hooky melodic rock with … Continue reading
Album review: VARIOUS ARTISTS – Beyond The Pale Horizon, The British Progressive Sounds of 1972 (3 CD Boxset)
Cherry Red [Release date 28.05.21] Respected music critics have often expressed the opinion that Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry never wrote a better set of lyrics than he did for ‘Virginia Plain’, the band’s first hit single. Medium.com’s Phil Adams described … Continue reading
Album review: KIK TRACEE – No Rules and Field Trip (2 CDs)
Bad Reputation [release date 14.05.21] Kik Tracee were one of the fallen in 1992′s Grunge assault on the Sunset Strip/Glam/Bandana/Sleaze (delete as appropriate) Rock’n’roll supremacy. A young band, clearly “inspired” by Guns’n’Roses, you can hear they had something to offer, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Bad Reputation, Dana Strum, expanded version, Filed Trip, glam rock, Guns'n'Roses, Kik Tracee, No Rules, Poison, review, Slaughter
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Album review: LOU GRAMM – Questions And Answers (3CD Atlantic Years Anthology, 1987-89)
Cherry Red [Release date 28.05.21] As with most rock bands, the singer and guitarist driving force is a dynamic that ultimately shudders to a halt, at least on a temporary basis: Steven Tyler/ Joe Perry. Mick Jagger/ Keith Richards. Robert … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, anthology, AOR, Dann Huff, Foreigner, Giant, Lou Gramm, melodic rock, Mick Jones, Nils Lofgren, Peter Wolf, Question And Answer, review
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Album review: SUNBOMB – Evil And Divine
Frontiers [Release date 15.05.21] An outsider may see Sunbomb as the completion of Michael Sweet’s journey to the darkside. A restlessly talented musician finally freeing himself from the strictures of Christian Rock, crossing into the world of the Sunset Strip’s … Continue reading
Album review: SONIC HAVEN – Vagabond
Frontiers Music [Release date 07.05.21] Sonic Haven is Herbie Langhan’s band. He of Firewind, Avantasia and others fame. He’s produced it, Sacha Paeth has mixed it and old Radiant chum, Carsen Stepanowicz plays guitar. So, with three vastly experienced artists … Continue reading
Album review: FALSE MEMORIES – The Last Night Of Fall
Frontiers [Release date 07.05.21] Guitarist, Francesco Savino founded False Memories in 2015, but it was only when he recruited vocalist, Rossella Moscatelli in 2018 that the band’s career gained some momentum. Subsequently, they were one of a mere handful of … Continue reading
Album review: THE COSMIC TRIP ADVISORS – Wrong Again Albert (2 CDs)
Bad Reputation France [Release date 09.04.21] Here’s an interesting tale to tell. Rock band, The Cosmic Trip Advisors fly from native Scotland to a “fancy ass” studio in Sweden to record an album, to be done in double quick time. … Continue reading
Album review: TRENTE – Aveugle & Sourd
Bad Reputation [Release date 02.04.21] Bringing new meaning to the saying “Les Trente Glorieuses”, unmistakeably French rock band, Trente, treat us to a reductive fusion of pop and rock, with Aveugle & Sourd (blind and deaf). Stating the obvious perhaps, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Aveugle & Sourd, Bad Reputation France, bonus track, Danny Vaughn, review, Trente, Tyketto
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Album review: FLESH & BLOOD – Blues For Daze (remaster w/ 2 bonus)
Bad Reputation France [Release date 05.03.21] Something of a Melodic Rock Supergroup, Flesh & Blood was put together in the early nineties by Touch/Drive She Said’s talented songwriter and producer, Mark Mangold. Tyketto’s Danny Vaughn and Al (TSO/Savatage) Pitrelli were … Continue reading
Album review: STINGRAY (Remaster with bonus track)
Bad Reputation France [Release date 05.03.21] Enterprising French label, Bad Reputation, has been bringing some excellent new material to our attention recently. But for now we’ll focus on some classic blasts from the past, beginning with criminally overlooked South African … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged album, AOR, Bad Reputation, Boston, melodic rock, REO Speedwagon, review, South Africa, Stingray, Styx
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Album review: TEMPLE BALLS – Pyromide
Frontiers [Release date 16.03.21] Despite the diabolically bad band name, Temple Balls’ popularity and reputation continue to grow. Produced by Jonah (HEAT) Tee, Pyromide is their third album. Their high energy melodic rock songs have a bright, brash ebullience. But … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, Frontiers, H.E.A.T., Jonah Tee, melodic rock, Pyromide, review, Temple Balls
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Album review: VARIOUS – Riding The Rock Machine
Grapefruit/Cherry Red [Release date 23.03.21] Riding The Rock Machine is a supremely enjoyable, 60 track slice of cultural history. The UK’s pop and rock legacy should be considered a National Treasure, to be protected and promoted. Grapefruit/ Cherry Red are … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 10CC, 60 tracks, boxset, Cherry Red, ELO, Family, Foghat, Foreigner, Free, Grapefruit, Nazareth, Procol Harum, review, Riding The Rock Machine, Seventies Classic Rock, THE WHO, Thin Lizzy, Uriah Heep
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Album review: SWEET OBLIVION (feat Geoff Tate) – Relentless
Frontiers Music [Release date 09.03.21] Another Italian job. The Sweet Oblivion (feat Geoff Tate) debut was co-written by Tate and DGM guitarist/producer, Simone Mularoni. Relentless is the follow up, and it’s been been co-written and produced by another multi-talented Italian … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Aldo Lonobile, Frontiers Music, GEOFF TATE, hard rock, heavy metal, Queensryche, review, Sweet Oblivion
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Album review: MARTY FRIEDMAN – Tokyo Jukebox 3
Mascot Records/The Players Club [Release date 16.03.21] Still mining a rich seam of J-pop, guitarist Marty (Megadeth) Friedman is now on his third Tokyo Jukebox album of instrumentals. The J-Pop genre is ubiquitous in Japan, the country Friedman has called … Continue reading
Album review: THE END MACHINE – Phase 2
Frontiers Music [Release date 09.03.21] This second The End Machine album, Phase 2, does what it would’ve said if it had been in a tin. And it says it emphatically, loudly, subtly in places and outright aggressively in others. It’s … Continue reading
Album review: SCREAMACHINE – Screamachine
Frontiers [Release date 09.03.21] Screamachine comprises five experienced metallers, all of whom deserve a mention, but most notably, vocalist Valerio Caricchio and guitarists, Alex Mele and Paulo Campitelli, all of whom are veterans of the Italian/European Heavy Metal scene. The … Continue reading
Album review: ARION – Vultures Die Alone
AFM [release date: 9.04.21] Over the 10 years since their debut, Arion have swapped teenage Eurovision notoriety for cutting edge symphonic rock. Like other Power Metal bands, their music is emphatic, and heavy on the drama. They know how to … Continue reading
Album review: SUNSTORM – Afterlife
Frontiers Records [Release date 12.03.21] Gone are the days of the Joe Lynn Turner fronted Sunstorm. Gone are the days when the band’s songs were written by Diane Warren, Desmond Child, Bob Halligan jnr, The Martin (Vega) Brothers and other … Continue reading
Album review: THE ALMIGHTY – Welcome To Defiance (7 CD Boxset)
HNE / Cherry Red Records [release date 26.03.21] Glasgow band, The Almighty, was formed in 1988 and revolved around Ricky Warwick on guitar and vocals. (He now does the same job for the Black Star Riders.) Such was the band’s … Continue reading
